Aldred Malkyr
__TOC__ The Distant Past Aldred's father, Donovan Aldred was an anointed knight of Pelor stationed at "the Needle", a watchtower situated about 10 miles from Bart's Aerie. He was the captain of the small cadre of soldiers who manned the outpost. Over the course of a few years, the baron of Therund made contact with the outpost, giving it a most ponderous report. Dark-skinned "brigands" had been snatching children, and even some adults from farms on the outskirts of the barony. Since the Needle was the nearest Nerathi outpost to the scene of the kidnappings, Donovan was tasked with tracking down the assailants and ending their threat to the area. Donovan was not familiar with stories about the Drow, but as he made inquiries within Bart's Aerie about the nature of these "brigands" the local Dwarf population quickly began to speculate that the scourge of the Underdark were involved. Making the connection between the reports of dark skin, and the taking of slaves, one of the local clan elders pointed Donovan toward an unused mineshaft, some 5 miles from the Needle that might be being used as a waypoint into the Underdark. Donovan took a small detachment of soldiers along with him to investigate. The elder was not wrong. Donovan's arrival at the shaft would later be viewed as both fortuitous and ruinous, for once there, he and his force found themselves embattled by Drow slavers, whose unfortunate captives were quickly executed in order to stay pursuit. At great loss, Donovan and his men fought the Drow as they retreated deeper into the mineshaft, and during this fight, one of the escaping Drow was injured. A beautiful female by the name of Alauna Malkyr. While the rest of the men pursued their quarry, Donovan quickly removed Alauna from the fray, and acted as any knight would to render aid to his prisoner. What happened to Donovan's men is unknown, but they never returned from their pursuit and despite searching for them, Donovan was unable to track them beyond the entrance tunnels to the mineshaft. Not only so, but the kidnappings ceased soon after this encounter. In a rash but compassionate move, Donovan chose to house Alauna outside of the Needle, fearing that she would be sent fettered in chains to the baron of Therund, who would have her mercilessly tortured until she gave up all the information she had about the other slavers before executing her. Instead, he succoured her in an abandoned hut he had found while on a patrol of the mountains. He tended her wounds, brought her meals, and cared for Alauna until she was able to care for herself. His tenderness touched her heart, and her beauty played on the strings of his noblility as no other woman's had. It wasn't long before they fell in love. A year later, she was with child, and though secluded in the mountains where he was posted, Donovan found the time and necessary excuses to play the dutiful if absent father to his son, Aldred Malkyr. As time went by, Aldred proved an able warrior himself combining the lithe frame and agility of his elven mother with the brutish power and unexpected cunning of his human father. Despite the secrecy of it all, life was yet sweet for the young half-Drow. But this was not to last. On the eve of his 22nd winter, Aldred returned home after hunting to find his father slain within the hut where he had cared for Alauna and Aldred. His mother was nowhere to be found. Using the skills he had learned from his father and from his rangings, Aldred tracked his mother's prints to the abandoned mineshaft where she had been found so many years ago. There, at the entrance to the tunnel lay a blade emblazoned with a symbol he knew all too well...that of House Malkyr. It had been his mother's. But it was now wet and sticky with blood...most likely, the blood of his father. His shriek of rage and sorrow filled the night air...Not only had he lost his father, he was sure that his mother had played them both for fools. Her calculating evil had finally seen an opportunity to fulfill some dark scheming which only the Drow delight in. After all, hadn't Aldred seen that very same darkness within his own soul whenever he looked too deeply? Hadn't he heard the seductive voice that called to him as from across some great chasm...a powerful voice...a sinister voice...a woman's voice? Returning to the hut, Aldred gave his father the only burial that his grief would allow: a covering of stones among the peaks. Having removed his father's armor, he now donned it and with his father's blade, Dawnbringer, he swore an oath never to rest until his traitorous mother paid the ultimate price for her heinous betrayal. 1949 DR The past 600 years have been challenging for this half-elf misfit. For centuries he protected the distant lands of Allyria with his rag tag band of adventures. He sought out retribution against his mother, though that tale has faded into the annals of history. He has continued his fathers’ work, following the ways of Pelor and working for the greater good of society. His blade is the light that shines hope upon the lands. Fate eventually leads this knight to the Bellig Isles, where Pelor inspired him to establish an order to take in any of those who desired to fight for a greater good. He decided to take in outcasts, criminals, drifters, and the lost to reform them and help them see the light of Pelor and the good in the world. His greatest pupil soon finds his way to his orders doorstep, in the form of a small, red, fiendish baby who would be named Baltis Drevan. The next 15 years were spent as a father, passing on as much as he could to his troubled adopted son. It was perhaps the child’s troubling nature that made Aldred take him under his wing as one of his own, he saw much of his younger self in Drevans’ eyes. 1964 DR Now Aldred travels alone, a drifter in his own right. Why did he leave the Isles? How could he and why did he leave his son? Why has he come to Overfell? For what reason did he choose to follow his sons friends? Time will answer these questions.